Machine Age

Just in time for Black History Month, BET rigs up the first African American reality show. Trailing eight photogenic students at Southern University in Baton Rouge, College Hill cultivates stereotypes, from the saucy nymphet to the sci-fi-loving bohemian, all ready to abase themselves before the cameras.

A PLACE OF OUR OWNFebruary 17 at 10 p.m. on PBS

Stanley Nelson weaves family memories into this very personal documentary about Oak Bluffs, the section of Martha's Vineyard that has served as an oasis for several generations of middle-class African Americans.

CROWN HEIGHTSFebruary 16 at 9 p.m. on Showtime

This didactic dramatization of the 1991 Crown Heights riots has the feel of an after-school special, focusing on two earnest local leaders (Howie Mandel as a bearded Jew and Mario Van Peebles in unconvincing dreads) trying to bring the neighborhood youth together via rap and murals.